1. Field of the Disclosure
The present disclosure relates generally to shelves having a mechanism for moving an item thereon via gravity. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to a shelf that may be inclined and has rollers to move an item thereon.
2. Description of Related Art
Items, such as, medicines packaged in boxes or bottles, may be displayed in rows on a shelf so that when one of the items is removed, another of the items remains displayed. One such configuration is a spring-pusher system that includes a spring-loaded pusher member. When an item within a row is removed, the spring-loaded pusher member urges another item to a position of the removed item. The spring-loaded pusher member undesirably takes up space within the shelf so that the items must be replenished more often than without the presence of the spring-loaded pusher member. In addition, the force of the spring-loaded pusher member on the items makes it difficult to remove the items.
Another type of shelving system utilizes a gravity actuated roller pin system. Undesirably, such shelving systems are made from numerous parts, e.g., 18 to 24 parts, that must be assembled, thereby increasing labor and cost. These displays typically include separate roller tracks having individual metal backing supports that undesirably bend and/or twist due to their individual roller track design. The bending and/or twisting can cause undesirably items to fall off of the display.
Additionally, such conventional gravity roller shelving systems have rollers loosely disposed on a base portion, each roller in its own holding chamber or cut-out, wherein a retainer strip is placed over all of the rollers in a strip in order to secure them to the base portion. Thus, if one roller needs to be removed, the retainer strip has to be removed, which frees all of the rollers from the base portion allowing other rollers to accidentally dislodge from the base. Moreover, the retainer strip placed over the rollers is attached to the assembly via screws, and should one of the screws become loose all of the rollers can become misaligned inhibiting or preventing rollers from rotating.
Accordingly, there is a need for a shelving system that moves items without a spring-loaded pusher member. There is a further need for a shelf that reduces the amount of parts that needs to be assembled. There is a further need for a shelf that connects each of a plurality of rollers separately to a base plate, thereby avoiding misalignment or failure to perform the rollers intended function.